Following the introduction of the euro, the European Union has started to debate the desirability and feasibility of more co-ordination in the field of capital income taxation. In contrast with product taxes, the EU Treaty does not provide for explicit authority to harmonize income taxes. So far, little co-ordination has taken place, even though the capital income tax base is much more mobile and hence more difficult to tax than consumption. The papers in this volume attempt to foster discussion on whether, where, and how capital income should be taxed.

Excise taxes are not only convenient sources of government revenue, they can also be designed to reflect the external costs of excisable products, such as global warming, acid rain, traffic congestion, and the costs of cigarette and alcohol consumption. This book by internationally recognized experts analyzes the art of excise taxation, providing a systematic, insightful, and often provocative treatment of a major fiscal instrument that policy-makers often neglect, and that gets little attention in the professional literature.

Growing populations and economies have increased the public's awareness that the world's environmental resources are finite. The issues of global warming and the depletion of the ozone layer have given universal significance to what were once local and regional pollution problems.

Serious research into the causes and implications of an aging population is a relatively recent phenomenon. Though several relevant issues of aging havereceived considerable attention in public and political discussions (especially in European countries and in Japan), the economics profession is somewhat lacking behind. This is particularly true for thetheoretical underpinnings of the economics of population aging. Until now, the aging-debate is primarily led by institutionalists. The present book with its analytical and econometric studies on fiscal implications of population aging is an...